Community at Work: Flaggers for Long Beach Grand Prix

Paul and Genie Parsons make it their job to watch the road, literally.

The Long Beach residents are among the more than 100 flaggers participating in the 38th Annual Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach on April 13-15.

As flaggers, they are in charge of alerting drivers via flags of hazards or other incidents on the track.

"We are the eyes and ears of the driver," said Genie Parsons. "They can't see around the next corner because of all the walls and stuff, so we let them know what's in front of them, what's underneath them and what's behind them."

The couple has a combined 45 years of experience as flaggers at the seaside race in downtown Long Beach.

HOW HE GOT STARTED: Paul Parsons has always been interested in cars and drove race cars. "I was involved in racing my whole life," said Paul, a service adviser for Tuttle-Click Ford in Irvine. "I got involved in flagging just to get back into racing."

HOW SHE GOT STARTED: Genie Parsons, on the other hand, wasn't interested in racing, at first. "When I was married to my first husband, he and I were on a pit crew for a NASCAR race car in Riverside," said Genie, a retired grocery checker. "And then we got divorced and I stayed on the team and he left. I had a friend who was a flagger and he said, `Why don't you come do what we do?' That was 30 years ago."

LOVE AT FIRST FLAG WAVE: The couple, married 10 years, met when they were both flaggers at a race in San Diego. Paul's favorite flagging memory? Marrying his wife at Buttonwillow Raceway Park at sunset, surrounded by his flagger friends.

A TRAVELLING HOBBY: The couple have traveled to Ohio, Arizona, Colorado and all over California as race flaggers. For them, it's sharing a hobby with fellow flaggers, said Paul Parsons. "You go get to be with your friends," he said. "You also get to play with race cars. It's a lot of fun."

INTERNATIONAL SECT: "(For the race in Long Beach), we have flaggers that come from England, Mexico, Ohio," Genie Parsons said. "They take their vacations just to come and volunteer here at the race."

THE PAY: Flaggers typically get paid about $75 to $100 a day, depending on the race. Some races, such as the Grand Prix in Long Beach, use volunteer flaggers. "It's the thrill, the love of racing, the passion of racing that keeps us there," said Genie Parsons.

FLAGS: Flaggers are armed with about a half-dozen flags to tell drivers what to expect. A striped red and yellow flag, for example, means there's water, gravel or other debris in the road. The yellow caution flag signals drivers to slow down and a red flag to stop.

UNIQUE PERCH: Genie Parsons will be the flag captain at Turn 2, at the fountain near the Aquarium of the Pacific. Paul Parsons will man Turn 10, near the hairpin turn.

A FAVORITE MEMORY: One of Genie Parsons' favorite memories as a flagger involved the late racer, Dan Wheldon. "(The drivers) come around in the pickup cars in the very beginning before the race starts and wave to everybody," she said. "I was working Turn Five, which is right at the back of the Aquarium parking lot. I'm waving to (Wheldon) and he pointed right at me and said, `Thank you, workers.' And that was, like, the coolest thing. That was the first thing I thought of when Dan Wheldon died. It's really, really cool when a driver acknowledges you."

BEYOND SPECTATOR: The couple said they couldn't ever just be spectators at a race, especially at the Grand Prix. "It would be too hard to do," Paul Parsons said. "We couldn't sit on our hands that long."